Organizational Behavior (OB) is often described as an applied behavioral science. It does not exist in isolation; rather, it is a “mop-up” discipline that integrates insights from various fields to explain why people behave the way they do in a professional setting.
1. Psychology: The Study of the Individual
Psychology is perhaps the most significant contributor to OB. It seeks to measure, explain, and sometimes change the behavior of humans. In an organizational context, psychology focuses on the individual level of analysis.
Key Contributions to OB:
- Motivation and Learning: Understanding what drives employees to excel and how they acquire new skills.
- Personality and Emotions: Identifying how different personality traits (like the Big Five) and emotional intelligence affect job performance.
- Perception: How employees interpret their work environment and how this affects their decision-making.
- Training and Leadership Effectiveness: Developing programs to improve employee skills and identifying the traits of successful leaders.
2. Sociology: The Study of People in Relation to their Social Environment
While psychology focuses on the individual, sociology looks at group dynamics and the organizational system. Sociologists study how individuals fulfill their roles within a complex social structure.
Key Contributions to OB:
- Group Dynamics: Analyzing how teams form, how they reach a consensus, and why some groups are more cohesive than others.
- Organizational Culture: Understanding the shared values, norms, and rituals that define a company’s internal “personality.”
- Communication Patterns: Mapping how information flows through formal and informal channels.
- Power and Conflict: Studying how authority is exercised and how friction between different departments or groups is managed.
3. Social Psychology: The Bridge Between Individual and Group
Social Psychology is an intersectional field that blends concepts from both psychology and sociology. It focuses on influence—specifically, how people influence one another.
Key Contributions to OB:
- Attitude Change: How organizations can shift employee mindsets during a merger or a change in leadership.
- Group Decision-Making: Understanding the “groupthink” phenomenon and how to facilitate better collective choices.
- Behavioral Change: Implementing strategies to reduce resistance to new organizational policies.
4. Anthropology: The Study of Societies and Cultures
Anthropology helps managers understand the differences in fundamental values, attitudes, and behaviors between people from different countries and within different organizations.
Key Contributions to OB:
- Comparative Values: Analyzing how work ethic and loyalty differ across global cultures (e.g., individualistic vs. collectivistic societies).
- Cross-Cultural Analysis: Vital for multinational corporations (MNCs) to ensure that management practices in one country are culturally sensitive to employees in another.
- Organizational Environment: Examining how the broader “tribal” culture of an industry (e.g., the fast-paced Silicon Valley tech culture) influences a specific firm.
5. Political Science: The Study of Power and Conflict
Political science studies the behavior of individuals and groups within a political environment. In OB, the “political environment” is the organization itself.
Key Contributions to OB:
- Structuring Conflict: How to manage competing interests between different stakeholders (shareholders vs. employees).
- Allocation of Power: Understanding how “office politics” affects career progression and resource distribution.
- Manipulation and Tactics: Analyzing the strategies individuals use to gain influence or protect their interests within the hierarchy.
Summary of Analysis Levels
To simplify, these disciplines contribute to OB at three distinct levels:
| Level of Analysis | Contributing Disciplines |
| Individual | Psychology, Social Psychology |
| Group | Sociology, Social Psychology, Anthropology, Political Science |
| Organization System | Sociology, Anthropology, Political Science |